In the field of merchandise transportation, the use of specialized aircraft where the internal volume of the fuselage is specifically designed to receive cumbersome merchandise is known. The merchandise is stowed on the floor of the aircraft in so as to be kept in position no matter what the forces are to which the merchandise will be subjected. More precisely, the merchandise, which is generally held in containers, is placed on top of the floor and kept thereon by structural elements extending transversely in relation to the floor's rails. The containers are kept so as to be supported on these structural elements, which block the movements of the container in the transverse direction. When the containers are subjected to a transverse movement, the corresponding forces are transmitted to the floor through the structural elements. The aircraft floor must therefore be capable of absorbing all the transverse forces to which it may be subjected. For that reason, the floor rails, which extend in parallel to the longitudinal axis of the aircraft, are firmly mounted on the primary structure of the aircraft. Transverse, or lateral, force is understood to be a horizontal force, extending perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of the aircraft.
However, where the aircraft sections are equipped with aircraft landing gear, the primary structure of the aircraft is too far away from the floor rails for said rails to be able to be directly affixed on said primary structure. In order to remediate this problem, the use of vertical connecting rods to connect the rails to the primary structure of the aircraft is known. In aircraft sections equipped with landing gear compartments, the floor is therefore a floor hinged on connecting rods.
Such a hinged floor is not capable of absorbing the transverse forces to which it may be subjected. Affixing the exterior rails, that is to say those adjacent to the lateral wall of the fuselage, to said lateral wall of the aircraft fuselage by means of braces is also known. Thus the braces connect the external rails to the lateral primary structure of the aircraft, allowing the lateral support of the floor.
The drawback of such braces, called anti-crash braces, is that they tend to increase the total mass of the aircraft. In the case of an aircraft of large dimensions, for which the fuselage can reach several dozens of meters in length, the number of anti-crash braces required to laterally support the floor can increase the total mass of the aircraft in a non-negligible manner.